


Plants Lean Toward the Sun

by sentimentalscribe



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Camp Half-Blood, I have No Excuse, M/M, Pining, this can be requited or unrequited whatever you want man, this is literally just 888 words of pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-06 19:24:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11042706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sentimentalscribe/pseuds/sentimentalscribe
Summary: A late-night video game session reminds Nico how painfully, painfully in love he is with his best friend.(aka do you want pining because then hoo boy you're in luck)





	Plants Lean Toward the Sun

**Author's Note:**

> I have no excuse for this. Just enjoy Nico pining so hard that it makes me actually hurt inside.

It was too much. There was no way Nico could spend another second in this special hell.

Will was focused on a video game, some sort of shooting game the Hermes kids had tricked out to work in the Hades cabin. Will was focused on the screen, scrunching his nose and jokingly yelling profanities at the characters. Nico was playing, too, but he was paying more attention to blond curls than hit counts.

Will was just _so beautiful._ He was. He really was. Nico felt all of his years of pining build up behind his eyes, threatening to spill out as tears. Was that possible? To cry from how much you loved someone?

Will found a creative way to kill Nico’s character and laughed, half-heartedly taunting Nico’s skills and looking over at him. Eye contact.

Nico snapped his gaze back to the screen. Will turned back, too, but unhurriedly. Of course he didn’t care if he was caught looking at Nico. What did Will have to hide? Nothing. Will didn’t have to worry about this the way Nico did. Will didn’t have to spend every hangout with Nico agonizing over every movement, every casual touch. Nico was sure of it, that he was alone in this hell of pining.

Nico would have given the world to just be rid of this, to turn off being in love with his best friend. It was agony. Every second felt so important and so futile at the same time. Nico returned his attention to the video game. He needed to be more careful. He couldn’t just stare at Will whenever he felt like it. He had made it this long without saying anything, and hell if he was going to ruin that anytime soon.

But _goddamn,_ it was really bad today. Because Nico couldn’t even spend the next ten seconds shooting at the screen without sneaking a glance to his right at Will. He was beautiful. He was wonderful. He was everything that Nico would never be and everything that Nico would never have.

Nico’s chest constricted so tight he felt as if he were choking. Something in him ached so powerfully, so completely, that he felt as if he were going to explode into a million bits - or burst out with a confession. Whichever came first.

This was when it was most dangerous. When just looking at Will made Nico tear up over how beautiful he was. Over how he represented everything good in this godforsaken world. Over how much Nico was absolutely, totally, and completely in love with him.

Nico’s character died yet again. He barely noticed. Will grinned, _oh that grin,_ and looked to him again, brilliant fireworks bursting from his every movement. His eyes were happy sparks that Nico knew warned of an all-consuming fire. The same fire that had consumed Nico for years, the fire that burned warm and sweet and powerful in everything Will did.

Nico wanted _so badly_ to do _something,_ anything. To take his hand. To hug him so tight he couldn’t breathe. To tell him everything he felt and more. Hell, he would have taken an accidental hand brush if it meant _something._

Will was back to shooting down enemies and taunting Nico’s technique, blessedly not noticing Nico’s situation of hellfire and suffering.

They were sitting on the floor, the TV set on the floor, too, right in front of them. Blankets and chip wrappers littered the space around them. They hadn’t moved much in hours.

But Will did lean back a little right then, against the foot of the bed. And by some miracle, his shoulder leaned on Nico’s - and stayed there.

Nico’s heart leaped and caught in his throat. Why wasn’t Will moving? Why wasn’t Nico moving, either?

Nico checked Will’s expression. ...He didn’t look any different. He probably just figured they were good enough friends that they could just... lean on each other. That was normal.

Still, Nico had to force himself to breathe. He didn’t dare move his arms to properly play the video game for fear of losing the touch. Will’s shoulder was warm. Solid. And Nico felt completely pathetic for savoring the connection this much.

But it wasn’t like he was going to be getting anything better anytime soon. Will was still laughing, shining like a beacon of light in the dark cabin, making it impossible for Nico to stay sane. Everything about him - from his eyes to his ears to the little hairs at nape of his neck - was so gorgeous, so warm, so _real_ that Nico’s chest actually hurt from yearning. He felt like a plant set by a window, its leaves leaning toward the sun in a quiet, aching effort to be closer to a radiance that bright. He let himself drown in the faint warm touch, shoulder to shoulder, the blessed, dizzying, barely-there closeness of it all. Oh, what he would give for more, for anything more at all.

But _more_ existed in another world, an alternate universe where Nico was braver and better and the type of person someone like Will would want. Would love. And devastatingly, this was Earth. This was real life.

Will’s shoulder still pressed against Nico’s, unassuming and casual and warm.

Nico took a shuddery breath and gently pressed into the touch.

This would have to do.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments, kudos, and everything make my day, so go do those if you liked it! Also check out my ongoing fic, The Quiz if you want something solangelo that's more long-term and fluffy. Have a nice night!


End file.
